Welt for boots and shoes.



G. F. DUNN.

WELT. FOR BOOTS AND SHOES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 5, 1911.

1,059,958, Patented Apr. 22, 1913.

Wiflzmessaa I "ilhllThlD STATES PATENT UFFTQE.

GEORGE E. DUNN, OF BROGKTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB TO WILLIAM B. ARNOLD,

' OF NORTH ABINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

WELT FOR BOOTS AND SHOES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. DUNN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brockton, in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in VVelts for Boots and Shoes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawlng, 1s a specification, like reference characters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to welts for boots and shoes.

In order that the principle of the invention may readily be understood, I have disclosed a single embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawing, wherein- Figure 1 is a cross section taken through a shoe having my improved welt secured thereto; Fig. 2 is a cross sectional detail showing more clearly the manner of securing the welt in position; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the welt looking at the grain face thereof; Fig. 4: is a cross sectional view of the welt shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 upon a somewhat enlarged scale and showing the position of the through and through stitching with respect thereto; Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the manner of cutting from a blank the welt embodying my invention; Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 represent ing the former manner of cutting welts from blanks; Fig. 8 is a View similar to Fig. 3 of a slightly modified form of the invention; and Fig. 9 is a cross section of the welt shown in Fig. 8.

The high cost of leather renders necessary the saving of all possible material. It is therefore highly desirable that the welts of boots and shoes be cut with the least possible waste. Welts are usually cut as strips of indeterminate length from a blank by cuts which are normal to the faces of the blank, so that the welt is rectangular in cross section when out from the blank. In order that the welt may be properly applied to the boot or shoe, it is desirable that its inner edge be of reduced thickness or tapered or beveled. This taper or bevel is usually given to the welt after the welt has been cut from the blank, though in some cases a strip wide enough for two welts is cut from a blank as shown, for example, in Fig. 6, in the patent to Bicknell, No. 707,076, and in Figs. 3 and 6 of the patent to Hadaway, No,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 5, 1911.

Patented Apr. 22, 1913. Serial No. 600,866.

744,752, said strip being cut into two welts by a cut inclined to the faces of the strip as there indicated. While cutting a strip into two welts in the manner indicated in said patent affords a certain saving of material, it is the purpose of my invention to effect an increased saving.

Welts vary in width but are customarily from one half to three quarters of an inch in width. Assuming the normal welt to be one half inch in width, I am enabled in the practice of my invention to save substantially one eighth of an inch upon the'width of two welts or one sixteenth of an inch to every welt. That is to say, I am enabled to save one eighth of all the material, thereby permitting the production of an increased number of welts from blank of given size. Assuming that the extreme width of a welt is to be one half inch, and assuming that each welt should have a tapered inner edge to permit it to be secured in more effective manner to the shoe, instead of cutting the leather blank into strips, each rectangular in cross section and one half inch along each face, as indicated in Fig. 7, I cut the blank into strips by cuts, all of which are parallel to each other and are separated seven sixteenths of an inch from each other as indicated in Fig. 6.

It will be apparent that the full width of the welt is one half inch and that the inclined cut at the outer edge of each welt furnishes the desired inclined edge of the next welt. Therefore, I effect a great saving over that manner of cutting a welt which consists in cutting it into strips rectangular in cross section and thereupon beveling the inner edge, and I also effect a very substantial saving over that method of cutting the welt above referred to which consists in first cutting a strip of the width of two welts and then separating them by an inclined cut. The amount of saving effected by my invention over such manner of cutting a welt last referred to amounts to the full width of the tapered portion of the welt. Moreover I save astep in the manufacture of the welt because heretofore it has been customary to out the welt into a rectangular form in cross section and then to bevel the inner edge and channel the flesh face. I am enabled to dispense with said beveling as a separate operation because such beveling is inherent in the separation of the stock into welts.

Inasmuch as the welt, when applied to the shoe, is provided with an outer edge of reduced thickness, the welt is less rigid than one having an outer edge at right. angles to its faces. By reason of the described beveling of the outer edge of the welt, the latter is rendered more pliable and can be applied far more readily to the shoe and particularly can it be bent around the toe thereof. In other words, not only is the beveling of the outer edge of the welt advantageous in that thereby I provide a beveled inner edge of the adjoining welt, but a welt having a beveled outer edge is structurally advantageous, owing to the fact that it can be thereby more readily and accurately applied to the shoe. Obviously when the welt has been applied to the shoe, its beveled outer edge has completely subserved its function of rendering the welt more pliable and its subsequent removal is immaterial.

In that use of my invention, wherein the bevel of the outer edge is such that the upper face of the welt at its outer edge overlies the lower face as illustrated in Fig. 1, the extent of the bevel is such that the base of the bevel affords a suflicient bearing to the trimming mechanism to permit me to trim off this bevel substantially exactly in line with the outer edge of the sole. In other words, merely the bevel of the welt need be removed and no part of the sole need be removed. In any event, where more than the bevel of the welt is removed in trimming, the total amount removed is materially less than heretofore; that is to say, in those constructions wherein a welt is employed having its outer edge at right angles to its faces.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the welt embodying my invention is represented at l in the several figures, the grain face thereof being indicated at 2 and the fleshface at 3. The welt may be and preferably is provided upon its flesh face with a stitch anchoring shoulder which may be provided by channeling the welt adjacent its inner edge, as indicated at 4 in Figs. 4 and 5, or by applying a strand or line of stitching or the like.

As indicated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the edges of the welt are tapered or beveled in substantial parallelism as indicated at 5 and 6, each welt when out presenting an acute angle at the grain face at its outer edge and an obtuse angle at the grain face at the inner edge. The cuts by which the blank is separated into welts may be straight, as indicated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, or may be curved or irregular as represented at 7 in Fig. 9. The welt 1 is secured to the insole 8 as shown in Fig. 1 by a line of through andthrough stitching 9 passing through the insole, the

welt and the upper 10. It is evident that if the taper or bevel of the inner edge be very gradual, the stitches 9 passing through the welt from'the stitching anchoring shoulder a will issue from the welt at some point in the tapering portion of the inner edge instead of emerging through the grain face thereof. It is desirable that the stitches emerge through the grain face itself, as thereby a greater amount of stock is penetrated by the stitching which will therefore be held more effectively and the grain face itself affords greater resistance than the other portions of the leather. In order therefore to make certain that the line of stitching will emerge through the grain face itself or substantially along the line of junction of the grain face and the taper of the inner edge, I incline the cuts by which the blank is severed into welts at such an angle as to provide blunt tapers, as indicated in the several figures. In this manner the grain face of the welt will, when the welt is applied to the shoe, extend sufiiciently inward to receive the stitching and thereby effectively support the welt as described.

After the welt has been secured to the.

shoe and the outsole applied thereto, as indicated in Fig. 1, the welt and out-sole may be trimmed in the usual manner. The outer edge of the welt and the outer edge of the sole are invariably trimmed in finishing the shoe, and the portion of the welt thus cut off would always equal in width at least the width or extent of the bevel or tapered outer edge and would be of at least double the mass. in trimming off the outer beveled edge after the welt has been applied, beyond that always inherent in the'finishing of boots and shoes.

It' will be evident from the illustration and from the foregoing description that by employing a welt having an inner beveled edge, such as 5, which is to be applied to the outer surface of theupper 10, by reason of such beveled surface, the welt maybe maintained substantially fiat when and after it is being sewed to the insole and to the upper; that is, the beveling of the inner edge permits the welt so to be applied to the outer surface ofthe upper that the stitching may be applied thereto, as illustrated in Fig. 5, without bending or deflect-ing the welt, as is the case when the inner edge of the welt is at right angles to the upper and lower faces thereof. Aside, therefore, from the saving in materialheretofore referred to, by my invention I am enabled so to prepare the welt for application to the shoe that it may be more readily secured thereto. Within the scope of my invention the beveled edges 5, 6 may beso formed that at the outer edge of the welt when the same is applied to the shoe the upper face of the welt may overhang the lower face as represented in Fig. 1, or if de- Therefore there is no loss incurred sired the opposite construction may be employed and the upper face of the welt at its outer edge may terminate short of the lower face of the welt at the outer edge. In either case this very slight bevel is removed in the finishing of the shoe, and there is no.

substantial waste of stock. In either case, the beveling of the inner edge of the Welt;- that is, that edge of the welt that is applied to the upper,so prepares the welt that when applied to the shoe, it is not only more elastic but it is necessary to cut off far less material between the line of stitching and the body of the shoe than in those welts which are rectangular in cross section. In fact, it is unnecessary to remove any substantial amount of such inner edge. In other words, the welt embodying my invention is not only of great commercial value, because of the very substantial saving in stock resulting therefrom, but the cutting of the weltin the manner described prepares the same for application to the shoe, and it fits thereto more easily and elastically than does the rectangularly shaped welt, and furthermore less subsequent treatment of the inner edge of my welt is required than in those of rectangular shape.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that by cutting the welt as above described I effect a very substantial saving of material, such saving of material being represented by every ninth welt cut from the blank.

So far as I am aware, welts have heretofore been prepared by cutting them singly from a leather blank. In carrying out my invention, I preferably cut from six to twelve welts simultaneously from a blank or sheet. This I do by arranging a corresponding number of knives at the proper angle so that the welts are out with beveled faces, as described, by relatively moving the knives and the blank or sheet.

It will, of course, be understood that the dimensions herein given are illustrative merely and that I am not restricted to any particular dimension or size of parts, the scope of the invention being set forth in the claims.

Claims.

1. As an article of manufacture, a welt of indeterminate length having an approximately uniform thickness throughout the width of its body port-ion and throughout nearly its entire width, the inner and outer edges of the welt being in substantial parallelism and beveled with respect to the upper and lower faces of the welt, the beveling of the outer edge of the welt rendering said edge more flexible in the plane of the welt than the body portion thereof and of increased pliability in applying the welt to the toe of a boot or shoe.

2. As an article of manufacture, a welt of indeterminate length having an approximately uniform thickness throughout the width of its body portion and throughout nearly its entire width, the inner and outer edges of the welt being in substantial parallelisIn and beveled with respect to the upper and lower faces of the welt, whereby the outer edge of the welt is rendered more flexible in the plane of the body of the welt, thereby permitting the more easy flexing of the welt in applying it to the toe of a boot or shoe, the bevel of said edges extending in such a direction as to form an acute angle at the outer edge of the grain or upper face of the welt and an obtuse angle at the inner edge of the said face.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE F. DUNN.

Witnesses:

Rosana H. KAMMLER, IRVING U. TOWNSEND.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

